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Smith: With yet another CWD-positive deer farm, is it time to consider buyouts?

A CWD-positive buck was found on a shooting preserve in Forest County, the first such disease finding in the county. The animal originated from a CWD-positive deer farm in Marinette County, also the first such finding there.

News related to chronic wasting disease comes over the transom at least weekly.

But since the outdoors is vast and full of stories and issues, I pick my spots for CWD articles or columns. This week a pair of CWD-related events took place that compelled me to share.

The first was the announcement Monday by state agriculture officials of a finding of CWD at a shooting preserve in Forest County, the first such detection in that county.

The CWD-positive buck had been transferred to Wild River Whitetails in Armstrong Creek several years ago from a sister facility of the same name in Goodman in Marinette County.

Last year the Goodman deer farm was also found to be CWD-positive. It, too, was the first CWD detection in that county, according to state records.

The animal's history and CWD status are significant facts in the narrative of the disease.

Wildlife disease experts maintain the disease spreads fastest and farthest "on four wheels." That's either a diseased live animal in a trailer, typically in the deer farming trade, or an infected carcass, most often transported by a hunter.

The Forest County case is the second in the last year of deer farming transfers bringing CWD to a new county in Wisconsin.

In May 2018 state agriculture officials ordered the depopulation of an Iowa County deer farm after it was learned the owners transferred CWD-positive deer to a Waupaca County shooting preserve. In that case, too, it was the first time CWD had been found in the destination county.

The two documented Wisconsin cases in less than a year should, but won't, settle many Internet and barstool debates. Right here in the Badger State in less than 12 months it has been documented multiple times CWD has been spread by the deer farming industry.

For fairness, it's important to acknowledge the disease has likely been spread by hunters moving CWD-positive carcasses around the state and nation, too. Such cases simply lack the iron-clad documentation provided by the captive industry.

The second news item came from our neighbors to the northwest. Legislators in Minnesota have introduced a handful of bills intended to curb the spread of CWD or aide in its management.

Several proposals are aimed at deer farms. One – HF 305 – would prohibit new deer farms in Minnesota, prohibit deer from being transferred from one facility to another and pay deer farmers who voluntarily stopped their captive cervid operations.

Another would require two 10-foot high fences on existing deer farms.

And Gopher State lawmakers are considering providing $1.8 million to University of Minnesota scientists who want to develop a fast, in-field CWD test kit.

According to initial reports, several of the measures have bipartisan support. So CWD is getting substantial attention in the Minnesota Legislature.

On this side of the Mississippi, it's pretty quiet.

However, it's still early days in the 2019-'20 Wisconsin legislative session, so maybe this Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly will produce something its predecessors did not.

I'm not holding my breath.

But their colleagues in Minnesota have certainly given them food for thought.

Is it time to prohibit all movement of captive deer in Wisconsin? Last year, then-Gov. Scott Walker recommended a prohibition on moving deer from CWD-affected counties, but the state agriculture board failed to support it.

It's hard to say if newly-elected Gov. Tony Evers and his administration at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection could persuade the board to change its position.

How about buying out some deer farms, perhaps targeting those in Wisconsin counties where CWD has yet to be found?

In the 1990s, Wisconsin made an arrangement to pay $1.5 million to Lake Superior commercial fishermen to retire their gill nets. The money came from the federal Sport Fish Restoration Fund; it was a move to aide the sport fishery.

A payment to phase out commercial deer operations would also be intended to protect the local wild deer herd.

It would be costly, no doubt. State law allows payment of up to $1,500 per animal for deer farms that are depopulated.

And there is the question of its effectiveness, since without proper rules and enforcement, hunters could also bring CWD-contaminated carcasses anywhere in the state.

A white-tailed deer with two fawns on a Wisconsin captive cervid facility.(Photo: Laurie Seale)

While the idea of such a "buyout" is popular among some hunters, it does not have the support of the largest Wisconsin deer farming group.

"We don't support a buyout, since you're talking about our livelihoods and we don't believe it would stop the spread of CWD," said Laurie Seale of Gilman is owner of a deer farm and vice-president of Whitetails of Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization representing the captive deer industry in the state.

Seale said the money would be better spent on CWD research. She is particularly optimistic about work to identify and selectively breed deer with CWD-resistant genotypes.

To be clear, all deer die after contracting CWD. A few relatively rare genotypes have been documented to live longer than most deer before succumbing to the disease.

The state deer farmers group is hosting Nicholas Haley of Midwestern University on April 13 at its banquet in Warrens. A webcast of Haley's presentation, titled "Breeding for CWD Resistance" is scheduled to be made available for viewing at www.dvauction.com.

Even if selective breeding can help deer farmers attain CWD-infected herds that live long enough for business purposes (perhaps five years), such practices might never provide a solution for wild deer, however.

But on this Seale and I agree wholeheartedly: CWD research should increase.

There has been far too little progress in managing the disease in captive or wild herds since it was first discovered east of the Mississippi, in 2002 in Wisconsin.

Lawmakers and officials in other states have become leaders in recent years in the quest for effective CWD tactics.

The Department of Natural Resources and hunters cannot alone bear the cost of CWD.

Among the low-hanging fruit for the Legislature is funding for CWD dumpsters and testing stations. There should be at least one in each county.

But there is much, much more to do.

As the Wisconsin state budget is shaped over the coming months and Legislators introduce bills, it's time for the shameful inaction to end and meaningful CWD measures to emerge from the Badger State.